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Eli Manning Credits Eagles Fans For Key False Start Penalty

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Giants had the ball with the game on the line.

4th-and-goal from the Eagles' six-yard line with 48 seconds to play, trailing by five points at home. A touchdown would likely win the game.

But Giants offensive lineman Bobby Hart jumped. False start. New York was pushed back to 4th-and-goal from the PHI 11-yard line now, and Eli Manning's pass went incomplete. Turnover on downs. Ball game.

Manning credited the Eagles fans at MetLife stadium for making a lot of noise.

"It's unfortunate we had the false start," Manning said after the game via NJ.com. "It's a tough situation. I don't blame Bobby (Hart) at home. It's just loud," Manning said, referring to the right tackle's false start that pushed the Giants back to the Philly 11-yard line, which is where their final drive ended after a turnover on downs.

"Brett Jones couldn't hear me call the cadence. You don't think that would happen at home, but I guess when you've only got two games, you've got a lot of Eagles fans, and they were loud. We couldn't hear the cadence and that's why we jumped offsides."

The Eagles fans have been traveling all season long and Philadelphia head coach Doug Pederson has noticed.

"It was awesome," Pederson says of the Eagles fanbase. "It was awesome. That last drive it got -- normally in opposing stadiums it gets kinda quiet -- it wasn't quiet. Our fans came out in droves again. It was loud at that end of the stadium, obviously. I can't say enough things about our fans."

 

With the win over the Giants, the Birds improved to 12-2 clinching a first-round bye in the playoffs.

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